Destiny developer Bungie has outlined its policy with regard to penalising players who manipulate network traffice to their benefit.
There are two kinds of reprimands which can be given to players: Restrictions and bans.
"A Restriction temporarily prevents someone from playing one or more parts of the game, whereas a Ban permanently prevents a player from playing the entire game," Bungie commented on its website.
Players described as "Disruptive" are given Restrictions, with the length of the penalty varying depending on the severity of incident(s) leading to the Restriction. First-time offenders can expect their Restriction to one-to-two weeks, while those who continually raise Bungie's ire will face Restrictions lasting several months.
Bans, meanwhile, "are only issued to the players we never want to see in the world of Destiny again," Bungie explained.
It's also possible that even if you're not cheating personally, being in a Fireteam with an offending player, "may well get caught up in the dragnet we have weaved to ensnare them."
"Be suspicious if someone guarantees you a flawless run in Trials of Osiris. No matter how skilled the player, victory in the Crucible can't be guaranteed," Bungie continued. "Be extra careful of people advertising their services, especially for a fee."
Bungie also added that it sometimes imposes temporary Crucible Restrictions for players whose internet connections are regularly unstable. Such Restrictions are rarely implemented, however, "so don't be concerned about the periodic Internet lag that is common to everyone," the developer said.
The primary goal of the Security Response Team at Bungie is to ensure the game's integrity for everyone, which is achieved through the collection of player data and by analysing player reports.
"Our servers track statistics about every player, every second," Bungie said. "We analyze the player statistics and corroborate the results with player reports to take action with statistical certainty. We manually verify the results before we issue Restrictions or Bans."
Meanwhile, Xur is back in the Tower this weekend and he has Gjallarhorn in his inventory for only the second time since Destiny's launch last year. The weapon is set to be nerfed next month but if you have 17 Strange Coins you can still pick it up.
Destiny's next expansion, The Taken King, launches on September 15th on all platforms and introduces significant changes to leveling, light levels, storytelling, the Ghost, and more.
